Is dyslexia a specific form of language impairment?

Dyslexia may be defined as " a specific language based disorder of constitutional origi n characterized by difficulties in reading and/or spelling which are unexpected in relation to age and other cognitive abilities" (Bonte et al 2004). Currently there is a vast array of research focusing on trying to define and explain dyslexia, however there still lies some disputes as to what causes this disability. Central to these arguments are the fact that the deficits that …

…driving for example, it must be remembered that a lot of non-dyslexics have such difficulties, which makes this kind of problem is hard to explain using dyslexia as a cause. In conclusion, the theory of a language impairment which effects phonological abilities is dominating due to overwhelming research evidence suggesting its link with dyslexia, however it is not yet established why a sensory and/ or motor deficit is found to occur more often in dyslexics.